Alan Spears
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Charleston, SC, United States
Toptal member since September 10, 2019
Since 2012, Alan has been working with companies and clients to design well-executed brands, websites, and applications. He's tested conversion rates and agonized over typography, hierarchy, and accessibility. Alan also has experience in building small, passionate teams that have achieved some incredible results along the way.
Portfolio
Work Experience
Product Designer
Camping World
- Created a cross-platform design system for the core brand, including a library of elements and interactions, plus a central repository of design and prototyping styles.
- Audited the current design management system to make the revision and asset-management processes more efficient and effective—including requirement defining, prototyping, and internal testing.
- Oversaw the redesign of core web elements including search results, product inventory cards, user account, and single-sign-on.
- Designed and prototyped two Camping World native applications.
Art Director
SOUTH
- Demolished silos to build a culture of camaraderie by building and managing cross-functional teams on both client-based projects and internal products.
- Directed the creative vision and design of projects and products, including the management of in-house and freelance designers, illustrators, and photographers.
- Led the creative discovery process, strategy development, conceptual exploration, and client presentations.
- Put forth an initiative of an internal design critique, convening designers and stakeholders in an intermittent feedback loop and implemented new design process tools, including asset management and revision history control.
- Coordinated with the other senior team in project scope development, budget, timelines, and technology development, as well as the acquisition, onboarding, growth, and retention of the creative team and contractors.
Product Designer
SOUTH
- Blended science and function with form and led the user experience, visual design and functional prototyping for internal and client-based web applications, websites, and products.
- Partnered with internal account strategy and conversion teams to design, test, and revise products to increase user engagement and conversion.
- Incorporated user research, brand strategy, visual design, prototyping, testing, and development coordination into a design—always with an eye toward the full product development lifecycle.
- Facilitated the design and development of product-specific experience language, style guides for both designers and engineers.
Product Designer
CodeLynx
- Led the user experience and visual design of software products for external clients.
Education
Master of Arts Degree in Interactive Media
Elon University - Elon, NC, USA
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business, Leadership
University of North Carolina Wilmington - Wilmington, NC, USA
Skills
Tools
Sketch, InVision, Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, Adobe Experience Design (XD), InVision Studio, Trello, Jira, Basecamp, GitHub, Usertesting.com, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Google Optimize, Visual Studio, Sketch 4, Principle, Slack, Google Analytics, Hotjar, Optimizely
Industry Expertise
Restaurants & Dining, Retail & Wholesale, Events
Platforms
Shopify, Drupal 7, BigCommerce, Magento, Mobile, WordPress, iOS
Other
UI Design, Web Design, Visual Design, UX Design, Branding, Product Design, Crazy Egg, Abstracts, Google Tag Manager, VersionOne, E-learning, Mobile Applications, Style Guides, UI Style Guides, File Sharing, Mobile Learning, Training Videos, Training Materials, Employee Training, User Interface (UI), System Design, User Experience (UX), Interface Design, CRM Design, CRM Systems, Persona Design, Operations Tools, Operations Management, Billing Software, Invoice Management, eCommerce, Web UI, Mobile eCommerce, Smart Homes, Analytics, A/B Testing, Content, Modular Design, Connected Device Design, Video Streaming, Streaming, Web UX, Web App UX, Web Applications, Responsive Web Apps, Dark UIs, Movies, Responsive Design, Responsive UX Design, Camping, Outdoors & Nature, eCommerce UI, Optimization, eCommerce UX, Design Systems, Mobile UI, Business, Custom CRM Modules, Commerce
Experience
- Photoshop CC - 8 years
- Illustrator CC - 8 years
- InVision - 6 years
- Sketch - 3 years
- Adobe Experience Design (XD) - 2 years
- Principle - 2 years
- InVision Studio - 1 year
Tools
- Sketch
- InVision
- Photoshop CC
- Illustrator CC
- Adobe Experience Design (XD)
- InVision Studio
- Principle
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